Amazon finally offers trade-in incentive for older Kindles

EARLIER KINDLE E-READERS CAN BE TRADED IN FOR ... A TABLET, SAYS DAILY NEWS CORNER

  One could ask, "What happened to the idea of keeping separate, as meeting different needs, the e-Ink readers and Amazon's new tablet (though Amazon doesn't use that word)?"

  However, that isn't precisely the case, as it turns out (despite the Daily News Corner headline), and some Kindle 1, Kindle 2, and DX (2nd generation) users MAY be happy to find that they can now trade in their older Kindles for credit toward a KFire or a later Kindle e-reader ... or almost anything else.

  The Daily News Corner's Mark Schnitzler writes that Amazon is offering "anywhere between $28 and $135 in store credit for those choosing to trade in their current Kindle models."

  So, ACTUALLY, it's not the idea of trading in older models specifically to get a new model of the "Kindle family" since the trade-in is part of the overall trade-in program, which I wrote about May 22 when Amazon added Electronics to its general Trade-in program.

  NOTE, however, that at that time, NO E-readers were included in product listings for trade-ins, although tablets were.  If interested in how the trade-in program works, you can see several info links at that earlier story.  So it's intriguing that they are finally offering customers Kindle trade-ins or trade-ups.

  Did you note the text in that last image?  A white 2nd generation Kindle DX (not the Graphite model) in "like-new" shape can get owners up to $111.75 in gift card account credit (gift cards can be gifts for yourself).  The Graphite model can get up to $135 in credit.  Personally, I'd never give up my DX Graphite.  I use it for eyesight-saving qualities when reading PDFs and figure tables with small fonts, and it's very good for sheet music.

  Going from the DX trade-in we're brought to the listing of Electronics Trade-in items sorted by popularity and, as it turns out, currently headed by recent 3rd generation Kindles.

  Here's a page (via the Search mechanism) for listing mainly "Kindle" trade-in items although there are other models that show up despite my search for only "kindle"...

  So, you CAN trade in an older Kindle model now for a more recent Kindle e-reader or anything else you'd like, since you get general store credit in a gift card.  I can't say the the trade-in amounts are particularly large, but they can be worth 50% or more off the newest coming lower-cost e-Ink models, depending on whether or not you choose ereaders with "Special Offers" and screensaver ads.

  I should reiterate that, as mentioned in an earlier article on the Kindle Touch w/ 3G & WiFi vs the "Kindle Keyboard" (meaning "Kindle 3" w/ 3G & WiFi) -- while the older keyboard Kindle included free 3G web access to the entire Net, albeit slowly, this feature is not included with the Kindle Touch 3G/WiFi model. Web access via 3G is limited to the Kindle Store and to Wikipedia, on the Kindle Touch.  Many of us think it's because the Touchscreen and faster processor would make web lookups more common and frequent and, since Amazon pays for the 3G access, it wouldn't be cost-effective for them.

So, if you have an older Kindle or two lying about, unused, you can get a bit of credit on these toward something else and someone else will be able to use yours, refurbished for a very decent price (refurbished units are tested, repaired as needed, and carry very similar warranties at Amazon).


Kindle Touch 3G   Kindle Touch WiFi   Kindle Basic   (UK: KBasic)   Kindle Fire
Kindle Keybd 3G   (UK: Kindle Keybd 3G)   K3 Special Offers   K3-3G Special Offers   DX

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Check often: Temporarily-free late-listed non-classics or recently published ones
  Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources.  Top 100 free bestsellers.  Liked-books under $1
UK-Only: recently published non-classics, bestsellers, or £5 Max ones
    Also, UK customers should see the UK store's Top 100 free bestsellers.